According to Encyclopedia.com, drapetomania is form of mania supposedly affecting slaves in the nineteenth century, manifested by an uncontrollable impulse to wander or run away from their white masters, preventable by regular whipping.
An extreme example of pseudoscientific psychologism, to be sure. But the shit that psychologists, psychiatrists and drug companies peddle through the media these days is just as shameful, as far as I’m concerned. The fact that highly educated and otherwise reasonable people parrot back this “psychological problems = brain dysfunction” nonsense is upsetting, to say the least. If I were hooked up to brain scan machines, just thinking about this crap would undoubtedly set off a flurry of glucose consumption somewhere in my head, and the trippy colors on the screen could then be used as proof positive that I am suffering from a chemical imbalance of alarming proportions.
I’ve ranted on this too many times before [See Brain Rape and Anxiety and Elephants, Parts One, Two, Three, and Four] to say another word. Here’s Thomas Szasz making the point far better than I can:
Boshe,
Thanks for putting Szasz on my screen. I’ll put him next to Glasser and see what pops up. This is great stuff; I’ll pass it around the child unit this week.
I don’t know much about Glasser, other than what you’ve mentioned on your blog I think. I will check him out.